To Swim
by Queen of Cracq
Summary: In which joining the Iwatori High School swim club is a one-way ticket to the entangling drama between several smoldering swimmers. "Look at those triceps !" "Gou, I think you mean to check out that very fine ass."
1. Elephant Boxers

Title: To Swim

Summary: In which joining the Iwatori High School swim club is a one-way ticket to the entangling drama between several smoldering swimmers. "Look at those triceps~!" "Gou, I think you mean to check out that very fine ass."

Warning: This fanfiction was written during the airing of _Free! _So there may be some inconsistencies with the anime.

* * *

"Bye, Mom!"

"Bye, Hon. Try not to scare off all the boys, will you?"

"No promises!"

6:45 in the morning: fifteen minutes before the new school-year begins.

Akihiro barreled out of her house, barely fitting her feet into her brown loafers before grabbing her orange backpack and sprinting past the house gates, slamming it shut with a practiced hip bump. Her house was an old, creaky thing, with mint green paint peeling off in dark crevices and walls dappled where the rain had eroded away the minerals; however her house was also a wonderful, mysterious thing, its floorboards saturated with memories of childhoods long past and windowpanes mirroring the dreams and hopes of those it reflected. The thick vines that seemed to snake up and around every the edges of the house and around the gate also served to give it a more natural beauty. It was, Akihiro believed, the perfect place to return home to.

"Ayame's gonna have my hide if I'm late to the orientation!" the girl wailed to herself as she picked up her pace, "I knew I shouldn't have stayed up all night playing video games!"

6:46 in the morning: fourteen minutes until the ineffable.

* * *

"Archery is a traditional Japanese sport which emphasizes calmness of the soul and mind. Here, we will train you to focus and hone your senses, a skill which you may find useful in everyday life as well. Having had won the regional award for best archery club, we welcome new members to aid us in our continual effort to polish our conscience and maintain our honorable position as the best high school archery team."

Applause rang throughout the auditorium as club president, Ayame, smirked to herself in satisfaction.

"Of course, what really means is that we have to continue being the best archery team or she'll skin us alive." Akihiro whispered to her friend, Sakura, with a roll of her eye after slipping on stage. Unfortunately, the loud applause did nothing to distract Ayame from noticing the tardy arrival of a certain girl.

"In fact," Ayame continued after the applause died down, "we will have someone demonstrate the abilities of the archery club."

Akihiro's eyes widened at the sudden turn of events, swallowing her spit in anticipation, _'She wouldn't...'_

"Akihiro if you would so kindly come out."

…_.'She would. That witch!'_

Akihiro desperately turned towards Sakura for help, but her friend could only shrug in helplessness. When Akihiro turned around to look for aid in her other teammates, some reacted similarly to Sakura, while others had the audacity to laugh at her misfortune.

_'So much for comradery.'_ Akihiro thought drily and she was left with no choice but to walk downstage with a hunched back, towards her dreaded duty.

Thwack.

"Wha-!" Akihiro's back straightened up in a snap after a sharp smack was aimed at her spine.

"Stand up straight." Ayame whispered into the girl's ear as she handed a bow and arrow to her, "We can't have you shaming the archery club now, can we?" The evil glint in her eyes was hard to miss.

Akihiro felt her lips pull into a grimace, _'Well, if that were the case, you shouldn't have called me out to humiliate myself in the first place!'_

Glancing out at the audience, Akihiro felt her heartbeat leap out of her chest. The expectant gazes of hundreds of freshmen was taking a large toll on her mentality, the thought of missing the target and the embarrassment that would follow afterward almost caused her to pee in her pants; however she quickly dismissed those pessimistic thoughts.

_'If I don't calm down, then I really will fail.'_ she chastised herself before mentally going over the steps to shooting an arrow.

Taking deep breathes, Akihiro could feel her erratic pulse slow and she gently urged her body to position, propping the longbow to face the stage's right wing where a large target stood. Taking the arrow in one hand, she gently weighed it on her palm before resting the tip of the shaft against a lightly curled finger grasped around the bow's grip. With a straight back and slightly bent elbows and knees, Akihiro checked off the first step to shooting an arrow: getting into the proper stance.

Next was to clear her mind.

_'Think of your happy place.'_ Akihiro reminded herself and the first image that popped up was of her local gym, jam packed with buff men with sweat that seemed to sparkle as it trailed down their toned biceps, _'Wait, not that type of happy!'_ and the image was quickly replaced with that of the nearby beach. Akihiro allowed the image to consume her mind as she pictured the golden sand shimmering under the warmth of the sun and the blue waves gently crashing on shore before receding back into the sea, leaving a damp imprint.

With a frim grip, Akihiro pulled the bowstring back steadily and focused her vision on the red dot fifty feet away from her.

With a final deep breath...

Akihiro released the arrow.

* * *

"So how was the freshman orientation?" Makoto asked Nagisa as they stood on the school roof, reminiscing the past and catching each other up on their recent comings and goings. Haruka, on the other hand, who although stood beside them, was seemingly detached from the conversation, instead opting to stare at the swimming pool on the other side of the school, enshrouded by the heavy branches of cherry blossom. "I heard there was an accident?" Makoto's expression turned to one of concern as he did a once-over on the blonde for injuries.

Nagisa laughed, partly in memory of the 'accident' and partly because of Makoto's fussing, "The students weren't injured, but the principal sure had another thing coming for him!"

Makoto's eyebrows rose at the sudden mention of the school's sweaty, nervous headmaster and even Haruka's interest was piqued as he looked over in slight curiosity.

Taking their reaction as a sign to explain elaborate, Nagisa opened to his mouth to start his long-winded explanation, "So, during the archery demonstration, this girl came up all cool-looking with this huge bow that was as big as _her _and like had all the equipment set up and everything, my classmate told me her stance was perfect or something, but I think that he just wanted to sound cool- back on topic though, that girl's expression was all serious in the beginning with her eyebrows scrunched up like-" Nagisa proceeded to pinch up the skin between his eyebrows but was quickly interrupted.

"What happened?" asked Haruka apathetically, impatient with the younger boy's beating around the bush.

Nagisa's expression brightened up, "And then she shot the arrow and it somehow swerved right at the principal -it didn't hit him" he quickly reassured the panicking Makoto, "-but it flew at his pants and popped the button right off his waist band so his pants dropped down to reveal his boxers in front of the entire school! And that isn't even the funniest part!" At this point, Nagisa was snorting in his attempt to suppress his laughter, "His boxers had a cartoon of an elephant, _on his crotch!'_

Makoto's mouth shaped into an 'O' in surprise while Haruka stared at the blonde in disbelief.

"What-"

* * *

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!" a ferocious roar bellowed out of a nearby classroom, shocking all the students within the vicinity.

Akihiro laughed sheepishly, "Well, you told me to demonstrate..."

"I also told you to not _shame_ the club!" Ayame growled as she grabbed Akihiro by her bow tie and proceeded to shake her victim ruthlessly, "So how did that end with you pants-ing the principal during _Freshmen Orientation_! Were you focused at all? Huh!? Is this all that two years of archery amounts too?"

With her head bobbing so violently to and fro, Akihiro could barely get the words out of her mouth, luckily Sakura stepped in to save her friend before her head flew off her neck and so Akihiro managed to sputter out between gasps, "I was concentrating! I even did the whole 'think of your happy place' thing!"

Ayame's eyes narrowed in disbelief, "And?"

"And suddenly the weirdest thing happened!" Akihiro exclaimed desperately, "One second I was imagining this peaceful beach and the next moment this _dolphin_ came flying out of the water followed by this massive killer whale and shark!" She could feel the incredulous gazes of her club mates dig into her back but Akihiro continued to insist her point, "Not only that, there was this adorable penguin that just waddled by out of nowhere chasing a butterfly! I'm not kidding!"

An awkward silence followed her declaration-

-before her honest confession was met with a sharp punch to the head and a loud "You just can't be trusted!", and Ayame stormed out of the club room muttering curses behind each stomp.

One archery member laughed at Akihiro's comical teary expression and patted her on the shoulder before following the club captain.

"What were you on?" Another member sniggered before she left as well.

By the time everyone else had left the room, leaving Sakura and Akihiro alone, did the girl finally register the fact that not a single person had believed her.

"You can't blame them," Sakura shrugged as if in response to her friend's realization, "You're story is a bit far-fetched."

Akihiro frowned as she stood up and fixed her mussed black hair, "If I can't be trusted, why did she even bother calling me up on stage! I swear, Ayame has a secret agenda against me or something."

Sakura merely shook her head with a faint smile and slid the clubroom door open, "You'll be surprised to learn that Ayame actually has a lot of confidence in you; that was why she called you up."

"Yeah, right." Akihiro snorted before exiting the room with her lunch hand, her ego still sore from the verbal beating she was just inflicted, "Gosh, I can't wait 'till that stick-in-the-mud captain graduates! Then _you_ can become the next captain and I could get away with coming to practice late and-"

"That's the girl!"

Akihiro stopped mid-sentence as she whipped her head towards the loud voice to her left and found herself staring at a cute blonde boy pointing her direction. Turning her head to glance over her surroundings, Akihiro wondered who the boy was sprinting at, before she was mowed over by that very boy. Luckily, Akihiro didn't fall over from the force of his tackle, but that was only because she was stopped by the doorway, her back digging sharply against the corner and her head slammed violently against it with a loud resounding 'crack'.

For a moment, Akihiro saw stars, or was it handsome men? Whatever the case, the breath was knocked out of her, and her head which decided it had suffered enough abuse for the day shut down and the girl blacked out.

* * *

Brown eyes fluttered open and Akihiro was returned to world of the conscious; however upon realizing that two pair of eyes belonging to two _very _attractive people were staring down on her, she reconsidered that maybe she was in heaven instead.

"You're awake!" the blonde boy exclaimed happily with his arms raised to the air in celebration.

With a groan, Akihiro shook her head a few times to shake away the sleep in her vision as she tried to prop herself up, _'Where am I?'_ was her first thought before a rush of memories came crashing down on her.

_'That blondie over there was the one who rammed me right into the doorway, wasn't he?' _she grimaced wryly.

"Are you okay?" the other boy, one with olive hair, asked as he leaned in to gauge her condition, "I'm sorry for what happened, Nagisa just got a little excited." the blonde boy temporarily ceased in his cheering, perking up at the mention of his name, "Come on, go apologize to her now!"

"I'm sorry!"

The puppy-dog face the boy had put on was just so _adorable_ that Akihiro found herself forgiving him even before he uttered the first syllable to his apology.

"It's fine." she reassures him as she starts rotating her arms through the air furiously as if to demonstrate that she still had bodily control over her movements; however her erratic actions only ended with her gutting someone behind her, _hard. _"Wha-?"

"Haru-chan!" the two boys cried in shock as they leapt towards the prone figure which had bent over onto Akihiro's bed in pain.

Akihiro's eyes widened at the sight of a mob of black hair resting next to her blanketed thighs, "Holy cow! Are you alright? I didn't even- never mind that, _can you breathe?"_

Blue eyes raised up from the depths of the blankets to dully glare at her.

_'Another pretty boy?'_ Akihiro blinked before realizing that she shouldn't be drooling over boys at that moment and leapt out of her bed, "Here! You should probably lay down. I really am _so sorry _for that! I had no clue you were standing there!"

Before the black-haired boy could protest, she already had him cocooned within the blankets and snugly resting on the bed.

The bubbly blonde, or Nagisa, as Akihiro recalled the olive-haired boy call him turned towards her in mirth, "As expected of the girl who pulled the pants on the principal! You handled this situation spectacularly!"

Akihiro's eyes widened as she registered what he just said, _'Pull the pants...'_ before face-palming. Now that she took a closer look, Nagisa was wearing a red tie, symbolizing his freshman title. No doubt he was there at the orientation to witness her embarrassing display of archery. _'Judging from their green ties, the other two boys must be sophomores.'_ Suddenly, Akihiro felt like such a cougar as she recalled the blue bow tie hanging around her neck.

"Did you really-?" the olive-haired boy asked, still unwilling to believe his ears.

Akihiro felt red dusting her cheeks as she sharply raised her face from her palm, "I can assure you, it was far from intentional!" Then as if salvaging some hope from her desperate situation, "At least we now know he's maintaining a healthy private life judging from the direction that elephant's trunk was facing!" ...Or maybe not.

If only she could hide herself in a hole...

Luckily, the boy took pity on her and changed the topic.

"My name is Makoto Tachibana," he chuckled bashfully, "I just realized we haven't introduced ourselves yet."

"I'm Nagisa Hazuki! Nice to meet 'cha!" the blonde chirped brightly, "And that's Haru-chan!" His finger pointed at the aloof black-haired boy who just managed to untangle himself from the suffocating blankets.

"It's Haruka," he corrected, "Haruka Nanase."

The idiosyncratic relationship between the three inherently different boys was something so endearing, Akihiro couldn't help but smile, "My name's Akihiro Suzuki."

"Akihiro?" Makoto mused questioningly, tilting his head.

Nagisa's eyes seemed to sparkle at that point, "Isn't that-"

"A girl with a boy's name." Haruka stated monotonously.

Honestly, Akihiro wasn't surprised by their observation having gone through the same experience throughout her life, and she shrugged as she ran a hand through her curls, "My parents are super traditional, so they refused to undergo ultrasound when they had me and instead they predicted my gender through this sketchy fortune teller that lived in my old neighborhood. But once they found out I was a girl, they were to lazy to change my name." She rolled her eyes, "Big and bright, is what my name means, so they justified it by saying they hoped I'd become a a cheerful girl with certain _big endowments."_ Akihiro gestured towards her chest.

Three pair of eyes flew towards her relatively flat chest and Akihiro suddenly felt awkward, especially when her eyes happened to meet Makoto's and he turned away blushing.

_'Maybe I shouldn't' have mentioned the second part.' _she thought.

"I guess only the 'cheerful' part held true." said Nagisa with a deep nod.

Akihiro's eye twitched, _'I definitely shouldn't have mentioned the second part.' _

"You're the same as us, then." Makoto hurriedly interrupted upon noticing the gathering tension "We're all boys with girly names."

Akihiro blinked as she allowed his words to sink in.

"You're right!" a smile returned to her face, "Wow, what a coincidence!"

That was how the four of them bonded over the rest of the lunch break before the bell rang for classes to commence once again.

* * *

**A/N: **Thanks for reading thus far! I know many people are reluctant to read fanfiction containing OC's for fear of Mary Sues; however I assure you that is not my intention. If Akihiro ever comes off as a Mary-Sue please message me and tell me why so I can make edits! This chapter was more of an introductory chapter, so hopefully things will start heating up next chapter. ;)


	2. Forever Alone

In that Title: To Swim

Summary: In which joining the Iwatori High School swim club is a one-way ticket to the entangling drama between several smoldering swimmers. "Look at those triceps~!" "Gou, I think you mean to check out that very fine ass."

Warning: This fanfiction was written during the airing of _Free! _So there may be some inconsistencies with the anime.

* * *

"Kyudo, or the The Way of the Bow, consists of three main aspects: _truth, _in which each shot is made with a pure mind and the intention of having hit the bulls eye even before the arrow has reached its intended target, _goodness_, in which the archer maintains his or her composure even through stressful situations and _beauty_, in which grace must be reflected in every movement as per etiquette. It is under these three concepts that you will all refine yourselves and grow as both an excellent archer, and a successful person.

Archery is not simply a sport for leisure or peace of mind, it is a method to which you can find inner peace and develop from the discoveries you make of yourselves. Archery gives you the opportunity to clear your mind from ripples of disturbances and peer into your soul. It is a sport that will refine you and – blah blah blah blah..."

Akihiro could feel her lids drooping as if they were being held down by paper weights while Ayame continued her passionate speech. The same speech had been made when Akihiro first joined the Archery club during her freshman year and it was no different the following year during her second year of archery. If the speech was only made once a year Akihiro might have been more attentive, it was after all, a moving speech that had captivated her in the past; however the fact was, Ayame insisted on making that very same speech _every single day before practice. _Akihiro swore she could recite that very speech, word-for-word, in ten different languages, (unfortunately she was no polyglot and thus her claim is only metaphorically true) ten times in under ten minutes.

Fiddling with the hem of her hakama, Akihiro continued to block out her captain's voice until she heard the decisive words of "Dismissed" and jumped to her feet.

It had not yet been a week since Freshmen Orientation, but already the Archery club was falling into a rhythmical system of organization along with its new recruits. Surprisingly, despite the disaster incurred by a certain female during the orientation, many new additions had signed up for the club and Akihiro became a sort of idol amongst the first-years. It had also become routine for freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors alike to flock around the dojo after school during archery practice in hopes of gaining boasting rights for being there in person if Akihiro managed to flub up once more.

Honestly, the publicity wasn't so well-taken by the girl of interest, but with Ayame already breathing down her neck about ruining the Archery club's reputation, Akihiro decided it would be better just to leave her growing fanclub as it was in hopes that it would help bring in more recruits. Unfortunately, the fanclub, which she had since dubbed the watch-Akihiro-fail-in-life-and-archery club, did nothing more than crowd the perimeter of the dojo.

"Sakura!" Akihiro smiled in surprise as she spotted the brunette picking up her bow and arrow in the corner. "It's been a while! So you're finally coming to practice again?" In a recent turn of events, Sakura had been nominated to be the new Student Council Vice-president (the previous vice-president was discharged for reasons unknown) and accepted a confession from an upperclassman, so she had been quite busy balancing a busy school life and a never-before-had love life.

Sakura shrugged as she waited for Akihiro to gather her equipment as well. "With Freshman Orientation over with, the Student Council has been taking a break."

"And Daisuke?" Akihiro asked, ever the nosy meddler in her best friend's love life seeing as that she had none of her own.

"He has art club," answered Sakura, and the two girls proceeded to head towards the target area, passing by a group of freshmen who were being split into groups: one to organize supplies, the other to pick up arrows while observing their upperclassmen shooting. "He's been telling me that they have yet to recruit any serious new members."

Akihiro gestured towards the growing crowd outside of the dojo with her shoulder, although it came out looking more like a bad, twitchy dance move. "Need me to drop by and do some promoting?"

"It's fine," Sakura said. "Daisuke will manage." The two stepped up behind a row of seniors who were preparing to shoot their second round of arrows.

As they were waiting, Akihiro let her gaze casually drag over the crowd of spectators until they landed on two heads. Her eyes widened as she felt her mouth garble at the sudden appearance of the two very familiar boys.

"U-um, I have to- I need to- uhm-." Words came tumbling out of her mouth in a jumble as Akihiro desperately tried to excuse herself from her friend, all the while inching towards the dojo entrance.

Sakura glanced over to the direction Akihiro's arms were waving widely towards and nodded her head. "Come back in five minutes, the seniors should be done with their last round by then."

Akihiro was gone before Sakura even uttered her last word, stumbling towards the boys in a less than graceful manner and attracting the attention of practically the entire club. Master of subtlety, thou is not Akihiro Suzuki.

"Akhiro-senpai!" Nagisa waved brightly towards the flustered girl when she finally reached them. "We came to watch you practice!"

Akihiro turned towards Makoto for confirmation and was met with a sheepish smile. "I wanted to watch as well."

The girl stood there for a full second staring at the boys blankly as she tried to think of an excuse to shoo them away, but when she noticed the mischievous gleam in Nagisa's dark pink eyes she knew that there was no reasoning with them. _'Oh dear,'_ Akihiro thought as she raked a hand through her black curls in resignation, wincing slightly as her fingers got caught in the tangles. _'I better put on a good performance.'_ The last thing she wanted to do was embarrass herself in front of her new friends, or at least, she didn't want to embarrass herself more than she had already. She glanced towards the rest of the spectators, now staring intently at the three of them and hurriedly snapped her eyes back to Nagisa and Makoto.

"Where's Haruka?" asked Akihiro when she noticed a missing person to the regular trio.

"He went home early," explained Makoto, who decided it would be in their best interest to exclude the reason_ why_ said boy had rushed home the moment the school bell rung to dismiss the student population. He didn't want to weird out their new friend just yet, luckily, Akihiro accepted his explanation without any questions.

"SUZUKI!"

"Gargh!" The girl jumped up in surprise at the suddenness of the shout and she twisted her head back to see who had called out to her only to have her eyes meet with Ayame's brown orbs.

"Are you done flirting yet?" The senior tapped her foot against the wooden floor impatiently as an irritated smile twitched on her lips. "Everyone is waiting on you."

Akihiro sighed, it seemed as if she couldn't go a day without pissing off the club president, and dragged her feet towards the target course while sending a smile of reassurance to Nagisa and Makoto. By the time she got into place and into position, she was sure that every pair of eyes at the dojo was drilling into the back of her neck. Akihiro regretted not going to the bathroom right before practice.

_'Well, can't screw up now...'_ she thought as her eyes zoomed in on the target. This time, she decided to change tactics, instead of imagining herself in a 'happy place' like she did last time in order to concentrate, this time she would project an image on the target. Akihiro took in a deep breath and visualized her arrow barreling towards the bulls eyes, straight and firm, it was ripping through the air and landed with a resonating 'thunk'.

Akihiro's arm fluidly pulled the bowstring back, by now, the distractions all around her was forgotten. It was one of the rare moments where Akihiro was intently focused on something rather than ridiculously embarrassing herself, an image that captured everyone's attention and no one could look away, anticipating her next movement.

* * *

Nagisa felt himself lean forward towards the scene, his eyes widening and mouth hanging lightly open. It was this very scene that he witnessed during Freshmen Orientation that had prompted him to drag Makoto and Haruka around school during lunch to hunt her down. The curve of her arm, her rooted stance, the sharpness of her eyes... it was all perfect.

"Nagisa?" Makoto glanced down at the blonde in curiosity upon noticing the look of fascination on his face. "What's wrong?"

The blonde glanced up at his senpai with a smile. "Look at Akihiro-senpai. Doesn't she remind you of someone?"

Makoto turned his gaze back on the girl, trying to figure out what had gotten Nagisa so excited. At first, it seemed odd to him to see such a silly girl looking so serious, a smile suited her more than the furrow between her brows. But then he noticed that Akihiro's single-minded concentration seemed to set up a barrier separating her from everyone else; she looked so comfortable, as if she were in her niche, the image was so _right._ For a moment, memories were evoked within Makoto and images seemed to overlap in his mind as Akihiro's eyes flashed blue, a familiar blue, a blue as clear as the ocean.

"Yes," Makoto whispered quietly to himself, his eyes never leaving the girl. "She does."

* * *

Meanwhile, Akihiro could feel her concentration slipping slightly, she had never been good at staying focused for long. _'I wonder if the magazine I ordered has come yet,'_ Akihiro mused as she felt her arms slacken. _'Pretty boys: Arabian edition, I've been waiting for that issue for weeks now!'_ Luckily, the expectant eyes digging into her back quickly reminded her to regain focus and she shifted her attention back on the target.

It took a few more seconds for Akihiro to recompose herself as her heart slowly settled down once more, all the while she felt her arms starting to strain under the pressure of pulling back the bowstring.

_'It's now or never,'_ she grimaced and prepared to release the arrow. Her arm wavered slightly, but she forced it to steady. _'Focus, focus...focu-'_

"Go, Akihiro!"

Akihiro flinched at the sudden sound and released the arrow, her shift in movement sent the arrow barreling the wrong direction and it swerved in its path.

"Wha-." Akihiro's arms fell limp at her side, her mind still reeling to register what just happened, all the while barely registering the thump of the impact of her arrow.

"P-principal!"

* * *

"Are you okay?" Makoto asked as he crouched down next to Akihiro's spiritless body which was leaning against the base of the dojo wall.

Archery practice had been cut early after the unfortunate incident where Akihiro accidentally shot the wig off of the principal's head. The scarring image of the large protruding wart on his shiny pale bald spot would remain etched in everyone's mind forever. Of course, that was not where things ended and Akihiro lay in the nearly-empty dojo dreading her inevitable punishment.

"Nope," Akihiro groaned as she banged her head against the dojo wall, discarding any and all pride. "I'm going to die. Ayame is going to kill me." Makoto gave her a sympathetic smile as he tried to muster up something encouraging to say.

"Mako-chan! We have to go, or else we'll be late!" Nagisa shouted from the entrance, waving his arms widely to catch the older boy's attention.

Akihiro turned her head towards Makoto with her head still leaning against the wall. "Are you going somewhere?"

Makoto's smile softened as he stood up, a look of reminiscence washing over his face. "Haru-chan and we are going to visit our old swimming school before it closes down."

For a second, Akihiro forgot how to breathe as she admired the sight before her. The scene seemed so picturesque, a handsome teenager haloed by the orange sunset while standing alone in a traditional wooden dojo, his broad shoulders gave him an image of reliability, as if he could hold the weight of you and the entire world on it, and his eyes seemed so serene, like it could soothe even the most resilient of hearts. Akihiro had never felt as lucky to be alive as she did then.

"Well, you better leave now, then," Akihiro said as she slowly rose to her feet, trying to placate his look of concern. "I'll be fine. I've been through this before, I'll manage." She sent him off with a smile, making sure the Nagisa and Makoto were fully out of sight before dropping the act and collapsing on her knees. "Who am I kidding, I'm dead. _Dead."_

"Wow," Sakura clicked her tongue, appearing out of nowhere behind Akihiro with a hand to her hip and peering out into the distance where the two boys disappeared into. "So much for saving face in front of our underclassmen."

Akihiro didn't even bother turning towards her friend as she tearfully spoke. "Who cares about pride in the face of life-threatening danger?"

"Wimp," Sakura sneered.

"Jerk!" Akihiro screeched.

"Cry baby."

"I'll have you know I've never cried since-," Akihiro finally turned over to face her friend in indignation, but when she saw her friend clad in her regular school uniform instead of the typical archery uniform her retort died short. "Why did you change?"

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Did you really think I was going to stay after school and hang out to watch you clean up this whole dojo yourself?"

"Well, _no,_" Akihiro said, crossing her arms across her chest. "I was expecting you to stay after school to _help _me clean up this whole dojo."

Sakura snorted. "In your dreams. Daisuke is going to walk me home."

Akhiro sighed and collapsed onto the floor once more, lying down with her arms and legs spread out like a giant starfish. "Must be nice to have a boyfriend." The girl understood how elated her friend had been after Daisuke's confession although Sakura's cool facade did not indicate as much. Akihiro would not deny her friend the joys of first love and Sakura knew that, so the topic of her leaving early was dropped.

"You should get a boyfriend as well," Sakura said.

It was Akihiro's turn to snort. "Yeah? And where do I find one of those? Do they just drop out of trees and onto your lap?" She closed her eyes. "Not a chance, not gonna happen, at least not to me."

The brunette gazed down at her friend grimly. "You might have a chance if you'd just let go." Akihiro turned her head away as if to say she no longer wanted to hear the conversation but Sakura persisted. "It's time for you to move on from the past or to own up to it. _You're _the one who made that choice to cut off all contact."

There was a brief silence as Sakura waited for her friend's response, when there was none, she stomped away angrily without another word, her thunderous steps echoing behind her. Akihiro twisted her head to face the ceiling and opened her eyes, her expression conflicted; however the sound of someone clearing their throat quickly shook her out of her reverie and Akihiro jumped to her feet to see an awkward-looking Ayame trying to act nonchalant and failing pathetically as the female's eyes darted at every corner of the dojo, everywhere but on Akihiro. _'I wonder how much she heard,'_ Akihiro wondered, but she quickly dismissed the thought.

"What's up, Captain?" Akihiro smiled brightly. "So I was just wondering if I could leave now. You know, busy night, I've got a bunch of video games to catch up one and-"

Upon noticing Akihiro's casual attitude, Ayame quickly regained her composure and snapped, "Well, tough nubs, Suzuki. You know what to do! Clean up this entire dojo before you leave tonight and if I see even a _single _speck of dust anywhere tomorrow morning, _I'll castrate you."_

Akihiro shivered as she watched her captain leave the dojo, wisely deciding against telling Ayame she didn't have the correct organs to be castrated. The girl waited a beat after Ayame was out of eyesight before she walked towards the closet which held all the cleaning supplies and quickly got to work.

The work was as grueling as it was cumbersome, consisting of wiping down the floor, storing away the targets, organizing the equipment and accounting for missing or damaged items, picking up the garbage around the dojo, that was so nicely dropped by spectators who had witnessed her spectacular example of how _not_ to shoot an arrow...the list could go on forever. As a result, it wasn't until 7 o'clock that Akihiro finally finished up and she collapsed onto a nearby bench in what she would like to think was a fabulous mess, but considering it was _Akihiro_, she probably looked like a road kill that had been left to rot before someone drove her over with a steam roller and left in her a state not to dissimilar to a mud pancake.

Despite her horrific appearance, Akihiro chose to look on the bright side as she admired the fruits of her effort. The floor sparkled with a waxy sheen that hadn't been seen since the first day of school and everything was tucked properly into their appropriate place. _'A better job than the freshmen were ever able to do._' Akihiro boasted to herself as her chest puffed out with pride. The only thing that remained constant was the musky smell of sweat that had permeated through the dojo walls. The dojo had just been meticulously waxed over the summer and initially exuded the faint, zesty smell of lemons, unfortunately, not even a week after practice started, the dojo began to stink up and Akihiro knew that the smell would only get worse. She shivered at the thought of the sweaty sock odor that emanated off the walls during the last few weeks before school ended last year.

As Akihiro lay sprawled across the bench to rest her sore body for a while, her mind began to wander back to the conversation she just had with Sakura. The very conversation she had been doing her best to distract herself from as she meticulously scoured the dojo.

_'If you'd just let go.'_

Akihiro sighed as she clenched her fists. All alone in the dojo, she had nothing to take her attention away from Sakura's prickling words.

_'To move on...or to own up...'_

She frowned as she leaned her forehead against her fists.

_'You're the one who made that choice...'_

Akihiro closed her eyes and she could see the images as if they were burned onto the inside of her eyelids: red hair that burned like a crackling fire, hands that were warm and large and gripped her tightly, a smile that shone as brightly and as dazzling as the sun.

"_Akihiro.'_ The voice called out to her and she felt herself unconsciously shaping her mouth to respond...

* * *

"Rin!"

"Rin-chan!"

Nagisa jumped with joy as he grabbed Rin's hands. "You're back from Australia!"

"What are you doing here though?" Makoto asked as he took a step forward.

While Nagisa was explaining to Makoto the circumstances of fate that had brought them together, Rin and Haruka were more occupied with staring each other down.

"Haru, you're still hanging out with these guys?" Rin frowned. "You never learn."

"And what about you?" Haruka asked. "Have you learned anything?"

Rin smirked. "I'm glad you asked. Why don't I show you? Let's race, Haru."

* * *

Akihiro yawned as she stretched her arms up in the air, loosening some muscles that had tensed after her strenuous punishment. This wasn't the first time she was subject to this and she was sure it probably won't be the last, but a girl could hope.

The sun had already set a while ago and the streets were only lit by the dim light of the street lamps. Luckily Akihiro knew that the district she was walking was safe and she casually strolled down the block, her skirt softly swishing around her legs and her school bag swinging at her side. She wasn't expecting to encounter anyone so late at night, so when she spotted a shadowed figure coming out of an old building she stopped cold in her tracks.

The half-naked, toned body was the first thing Akihro noticed and it took quite the effort for her to drag her eyes up to see the face that the body belonged to. The face was one Akihiro was not familiar with, which was surprising considering the city's small population and that Akihiro definitely wouldn't have forgotten such an attractive face. The boy had purplish-red hair and unique sharp teeth that resembled that of a shark's, but Akihiro didn't waste any more time on his face as her vision quickly lowered back down on his chest. She was so disappointed to see the boy slipping into his jacket that she didn't notice his red eyes glaring at her.

"What are you looking at?" He practically growled at her.

Akihiro stiffened as her body immediately straightened up. "N-nothing!" Internally groaning, Akihiro could only hope that the boy would quickly leave before she did anything else more embarrassing. "I was only staring at your chest." The boy stared at her, his eyebrows shooting up in incredulity. "I-I-I mean, you look better without your jacket!" Akihiro prayed to get hit by a random flying projectile and wake up thinking it was all a dream.

Fortunately for her, the boy chose to ignore her and walked past without further fuss while pulling a cap over his face. Akihiro stiffly turned her head, her eyes trailing after the boy down the street, all the while trying her best to brainwash herself into forgetting the sequence of events that had happened in the past five minutes.

_'But,'_ Akihiro mused contemplatively as she recalled the boy's face. _'That face...'_ The girl turned away after the boy's silhouette finally faded away into the darkness before continuing down the road to her house.

"He was really hot."

* * *

**A/N: ** I totally agree with you, Akihiro, and that same statement totally applies to the rest of the male case of _Free! _


End file.
